West Dennis Graded School · Photo: Thomas Kelley from Boston, MA · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Dennis are higher than in 66% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Dennis for work; outside it, Barnstable Town is the main destination (15%, 10 miles). The poverty rate is 6.7%, where Massachusetts as a whole has 10.0%. For jobs and income Dennis is better than 58% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Dennis and work: the main findings
Dennis’ workforce skews older
38% of Dennis’ working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Dennis are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Dennis’ Jobs & income grade comes from
The poverty rate holds Dennis’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dennis could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
The kinds of work in Dennis
4,198 jobs are based in Dennis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dennis, 2013 → 2023: 3,893 → 4,198. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Dennis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Dennis spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dennis workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,626 commuters (the 17% who work from home are left out). Across Massachusetts: 75% drive alone, 8% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In and out of Dennis on a workday
On a workday 4,650 residents head out to work, 907 work right here, and 3,291 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Dennis: the destinations
Where Dennis clocks in
15% of workers
9% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How far Dennis’ workers travel
About 28% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Dennis walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 14.1% across Massachusetts.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,767 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 23% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 64% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.7% of Dennis households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dennis’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Dennis ranks: 1,297th of 2,362 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,295 | Le Mars IA | 10,760 | $75K | 9.2% | 2.8% | 51% | B |
| 1,296 | Menasha WI | 18,385 | $65K | 12.0% | 3.2% | 7% | B |
| 1,297 | Dennis MA | 14,906 | $88K | 6.7% | 4.6% | 16% | B |
| 1,298 | Fraser MI | 14,496 | $64K | 10.4% | 4.3% | 5% | B |
| 1,299 | Walker Mill MD | 10,931 | $88K | 10.3% | 8.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Dennis, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Dennis and its neighbors: 19% work next door
The biggest share goes to Yarmouth (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dennis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis | – | B | B+ | 24 min | $88,154 |
| Yarmouth | 9% | B− | A− | 24 min | $86,039 |
| Brewster | 4% | C+ | A− | 21 min | $103,317 |
| Yarmouth Port | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| South Yarmouth | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Northwest Harwich | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Harwich | 6% | B | B | 25 min | $96,966 |
Same-state neighbors only. Yarmouth Port, South Yarmouth and Northwest Harwich: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dennis’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Dennis: questions
What is the median household income in Dennis?
$88,154 (±$9,976) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dennis?
6.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dennis?
24 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dennis work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Barnstable Town (15%, 10 mi), Yarmouth (9%, 4 mi), Boston (7%, 61 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dennis walkable?
Dennis is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dennis without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dennis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dennis
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.